If your décor is more particular like Retro, the 80s disco style, or chic to suit your upwardly mobile guests and lifestyle, your pick of coffee tables may become slimmer and more expensive. However, while décor can be your style guide, you need to measure the area you intent to place the coffee table in before starting any shopping.

Besides the fireplace, the focal point of a living room is the coffee table. This type of living room tables descended from the European tea table, they usually sit before a sofa and are used to hold knick knacks and magazines as well as coffee cups, and can be made of elaborately carved wood, Plexiglas, glass and chrome, or wicker and bamboo.

The first coffee tables, designed and called by this name, evolved in Europe, most probably in Britain, during the Victorian era. Before the 18th century, the tables that were being used in addition with the settle are the occasional tables, end tables, tea tables and centre tables. By the year 1780, the high-back settles were replaced by low height sofas, and thus came the need for a lower table. And this led to the development of the sofa tables, which were placed near the sofa to be used to put down the cup or the books.